After a brief international break, the English Premier League resumed last weekend with a thrilling set of fixtures.

The London derby kicked off the weekend with Chelsea thrashing Tottenham 4-2 at White Hart Lane.

Gary Cahill scored the opener after 17 minutes to give the Blues the advantage.

Nevertheless, William Gallas was able to notch the equalizer two minutes into the second half to give Tottenham some hope before Jermaine Defoe granted the home side the lead in the 52nd minute.

Juan Mata was the architect of Chelsea’s attacking prowess in the last 30 minutes of the game as he scored in the 66th and 69th minute as well as assisted Daniel Sturridge for the game winner.

At West Brom, a first-half red card for James Milner did not thwart Manchester City from winning.

Shane Long put the home side ahead in the 67th minute with a well-poached goal after Peter Odemwingie’s shot on goal.

Edin Džeko came on late in the second half to cancel out Long’s goal in the 80th minute and then scored the winner in the 90th minute.

Džeko’s first goal was a fine header after Carlos Tevez floated in a free kick. Sergio Aguero assisted Džeko for the winner after a counter attack.

Liverpool served Reading with a 1-0 defeat at Anfield with Raheem Sterling scoring his first senior goal for the Reds. Similarly, Fulham edged a 1-0 home victory over Aston Villa courtesy of Chris Baird’s late goal.

Fellow Londoner, Arsenal, was also a victim of a 1-0 shutout after Grant Holt’s 20th minute goal at Norwich.

West Ham United gave Southampton a severe lashing with four goals for the Hammers in the second half. Mark Noble’s 46th minute free kick beat Artur Boruc for the opening goal.

Kevin Nolan then gave the Hammers a comfortable lead two minutes later after collecting an excellent pass from Yossi Benayoun.

Adam Lallana put the Saints back in the struggle as his goal made it 2-1.

However, Noble scored from the spot to extend West Ham’s lead before Modibo Maiga curled in the winner with a few minutes to spare.

Sunday’s games featured Sunderland hosting Newcastle United and Queens Park Rangers at home to Everton. Both games were characterized by early leads, 1-1 results and own-goal equalizers.

Yohan Cabaye gave Newcastle the lead in as early as the third minute but his teammate Demba Ba took it away by tucking the ball into his own net in the 85th minute.

Likewise, Junior Hoilett got on the scoreboard in the third minute while the ball bounced off Julio César half an hour later for the equalizer.

Still, the most interesting match of the weekend was Manchester United’s home fixture against stoke.

Wayne Rooney carried on his fine form at the World Cup qualifiers to Old Trafford.

Unfortunately, the game did not start well for Rooney, who scored an early own-goal from Charlie Adams’ free kick. The former eventually made amends a quarter of an hour later after heading in Robin Van Persie’s cross.

Rooney’s goal instilled a much-needed momentum in the home side as Van Persie was inspired to slot in the second.

The referee had barely blown the whistle for the start of the second half when Danny Welbeck scored a header off Rooney’s cross.

Michael Kightly then found the back of the net in the 58th minute to narrow the Red Devils’ lead over the Potters. But Rooney struck again to make it 4-2 after Van Persie sent a corner kick to the box.

Chelsea tops the table with 22 points while Manchester United and Manchester City are second and third with 18 points apiece.

The world’s best league resumes this weekend with more entertainment.

Chelsea will host Manchester United this Sunday, which will be the game of the week. Interestingly, both teams will face each other three days after for the Capital One League Cup. The Blues will host the Red Devils for this fixture.

Also in London Saturday is the London derby between Arsenal and Queens Park Rangers. Liverpool will face local rivals Everton at Anfield for the Liverpool derby.

Other Saturday fixtures include Aston Villa at home against Norwich, Wigan hosting Wes Ham, Sunderland visiting Stoke City, Fulham at Reading and Manchester City playing host to Swansea.

West Brom will travel to St. James’ Park to face Newcastle while Southampton will host Tottenham at St. Mary’s Stadium for Sunday’s fixtures.

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